


the needs of the many

by eg1701



Series: thorbruce and endgame [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Bruce Banner-centric, Dialogue Heavy, M/M, No Professor Hulk in this house, Star Trek References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-01 00:37:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20456195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eg1701/pseuds/eg1701
Summary: thor and bruce discuss the snap that might bring the other half back





	the needs of the many

**Author's Note:**

> this is just a short little piece because i just watched half of endgame again and got emotional

The rest of the team had left Thor and Bruce alone to discuss it.  


Bruce supposed that everyone had been missing for five years, a few more minutes wouldn’t make too much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.  


“Let me do this,” Thor practically begged, pressing his forehead to Bruce’s, “Let me do this one thing. I can do this. I couldn’t stop them from disappearing but I can bring them back.”  


Bruce shook his head, “Honey, this is too much even for you. It will kill you. Lightning is in your veins, that’s true, but these are infinity stones, the powers of the universe. Hulk and I though, we can take it. We’ve got gamma radiation in ours. I think that we’re the most qualified.”  


“You’ll die.”  


“I might,” Bruce sighed, “I might just do that. It would kill you for sure though. But when it comes down to me or half the universe, the option is easy. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few Thor, or the one.”  


“Isn’t that from the space movie we watched?” Thor asked, trying and failing to smile. He was about to cry, Bruce knew he would try and hold it in. Bruce hoped he did because seeing Thor cry would send him over the edge for sure. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen Thor cry before. He had, but usually he was there to comfort him, to talk with him. Thor was crying because Bruce was probably going to die, and there wasn’t much he could do to change that except not die.  


Bruce chuckled and brushed his thumb across Thor’s cheek, “Yeah. But it applies here. We’re going to go in there, Hulk and I are going to merge like we do and I’m going to try my hardest to bring back everyone. Steve’s friend, Tony’s kid, everybody. I’m going to do this. Alright? Nat didn’t die for us to fail after we’ve gotten all the stones. We can’t let her death be for nothing. She deserves better than that and you know it as well as I do.”  


Thor hesitated and then nodded, like he’d resigned himself to this, no matter what. To sit back and watch no matter what happened. “You aren’t allowed to die.”  


“I told you Thor, you are the king of Asgard but I don’t take orders from you. I can’t even take orders from my own government.” Bruce was trying to joke but he wasn’t sure if he was succeeding. Tony was good at joking when things were bad, but Bruce had never really mastered it. Or maybe it just didn’t work on Thor. Maybe Thor knew his jokes were trying to cover his own fear.  


Thor pressed a kiss to Bruce’s palm and nodded, “I know. But take it as a request. Maybe a plea. I’d prefer if you didn’t die.”  


“I’ll be alright,” Bruce said, “Go out there. Tell them I’ll do it. I’ll be there in a second. Make sure no one has decided to put the gauntlet on themselves. I mean Tony specifically you know how he is.”  


Thor kissed him like it was the last time he ever would and maybe it would be. Bruce wondered if Thor could feel him shaking. He didn’t want to die, that was true. For the first time in a long time, Bruce Banner did not want to die. He had a husband and a home and even though things were still difficult after Thanos, he would like to continue this life he had built. He had finally gotten everything he wanted, everything he thought that he was never going to have. Was he really willing to risk this life? It seemed insane.  


But Spock was right. The needs of the many were greater than the needs of the one and half the universe was a great many. There were kids who needed parents, parents who needed kids. Friends, lovers, siblings, the universe that needed to be righted and returned and maybe it had always been Bruce’s job to do so. He wasn’t sure he believed in fate, Hulk hadn’t let him die and maybe it was all leading up to this. This is what Hulk was meant to do. What Bruce was meant to do. Or maybe all of that was bullshit and this was all just a coincidence.  


Bruce drew a deep breath and nodded, “Alright Hulk, we’ve got this. We’re going to bring everybody back. We’re going to be the hero this time.”


End file.
